Mission Teams at First Church

First Church encourages our members and friends to get involved in hands-on mission ministry as often as possible. Whatever your interest, energy or ability level, there is a vibrant choice available for you.

A long history of International Teams...

Mission teams come in all shapes and sizes! At a nearby border town, our mission work has taken the form of weekend trips, where members have rebuilt portions of and have added to a Mexican Methodist church, right across the border from Yuma, Arizona. Hearty souls have traveled to Tijuana, Mexico for “Extreme” mission trips, camping out and constructing a rudimentary home for a family in just a few days. For over ten years, FUMC youth and adult international mission teams have served in locations from Bolivia to the Dominican Republic, including Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru. Teams have built walls, hauled out coffee trees, made toys, mixed cement…and have bonded with the warm Latin people who met us at the schools and churches we have served. Whatever your interests, your visions or your hopes, there is a place for you!!!

Katrina Teams in 2007 and 2008...

At times of international disaster, without a moment's hesitation, who sends the water bottles, food, tents, medical supplies, clean-up buckets and baby blankets?  Who stays through out the ordeal to re-build the hospitals and schools?  UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief) is always ready to respond thanks to the donations and several thousand volunteer hours preparing the supplies.  First Church sent a team of fifteen to the Sager Brown UMCOR storage warehouse in Louisiana in February 2007. A repeat trip is planned for 2008. A team of 10 went to  Slidell, Louisiana to do repairs in the community in April 2007.  Work was done on a Soup Kitchen and a small Holiness Church, both of which had been severely damaged by the flood waters. A partnership with First UMC Slidell has been formed and we hope to follow up our first trip with several more over the coming years. Strong support from church members makes these trips possible.